Monthly Archives: April 2014

If you are one of the many people out there who vow to start a diet every Monday morning but find yourself slipping after just a few hours, you need to revolutionize your diet! Diets are incredibly hard to stick to if you do not find the right combination of food to tantalize your taste buds because it is easy to get bored. However, I would like to offer you a solution – the blueberry!

The blueberry is high on the list of the healthiest foods you could eat and has been for centuries. The amount of goodness that is packed into the blueberry is unique in the fruit world and could actively enhance your health and well being in so many ways. The blueberry is high in fibre, packed with antioxidants to fight free radicals within your body, low in calories and, best of all, is completely fat free! One serving of blueberries, about 140g in weight, can therefore provide the same health benefits as three of four apples.

This information may come as a shock to most people because restaurants and cafes have become adept at using blueberries in more unhealthy snacks in the last fifty years or so. This undoubtedly overshadows the blueberry’s healthy properties. For example, if asked to think of blueberry foods, most individuals would automatically think of muffins, pies, cobbler and the few blueberries that come with a chocolate-filled pancake at the local diner! However, if you can see past that, you will undoubtedly be able to stick to any healthy diet of your choosing!

Eating blueberries on a regular basis can revitalize your system, especially if you eat them for breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day because it serves to get your metabolism going, thus enabling your body to burn more calories and fat over the course of the day. Obviously this will not work if you then eat fried foods all day long, but as part of a balanced diet, blueberries can really kick start your system.

There are literally hundreds of ideas and recipes out there for breakfast time with blueberries so there is bound to be at least a handful you like. There are, of course, the obvious ones such as fruit salad, blueberries sprinkled on your cereal and natural yoghurt sweetened with blueberries and a touch of honey. Of course, all of these choices are healthy and taste great, but you should view breakfast as an opportunity to let your imagination, and your taste buds, run wild!

Use breakfast as an opportunity to try out new recipes. For example, you could try low-fat and low sugar blueberry pancakes with a fruity blueberry sauce over the top. You don’t need to worry about leaving the sugar out because the blueberries will sweeten the mixture as well as adding a bit of zest! Simply make your usual pancake mix but leave half of the usual amount of sugar out and add 200g of blueberries instead. To compliment that, you could put a handful of blueberries in the blender along with chopped apple, raspberries, a tablespoon of honey and a cup of natural yoghurt. Blend it until the mixture is smooth and then you have your own breakfast smoothie!

The recipes above are all quick and very tasty. However, you have license to experiment. Try making some of your own breakfast concoctions and, before long, I guarantee that you will find one you like! It isn’t hard to eat a healthy breakfast if you enjoy it so board the blueberry train!

Since 1925 The Chincoteague Island Pony Swim has been the centerpiece for life on this tiny island off the coast of Virginia. Much of Chincoteague Island’s business community was destroyed by fire in the previous five years. The Fire Department needed to raise funds for new equipment and decided to hold a Firemen’s Carnival that July, featuring the first Pony Swim and Auction. Fifteen pony foals were sold and a new tradition was born.

Word spread over the years, and in 1947, Marguerite Henry released her soon to be classic book for children, called Misty of Chincoteague. Learn more about this book by clicking here: Misty of Chincoteague information.

With the Town’s permission, the Chincoteague Fire Department assumed ownership of the wild Chincoteague pony herd on Assateague Island. The herd numbers around 150 ponies and has become quite accustomed to the annual roundup. This is where the Salt Water Cowboys come into play. This elite band of experts guarantee the safety of the Chincoteague ponies during drive and then lead them to the Carnival ground corrals where there are examined by a veterinarian before the auction the next day.

Phase two of the world-famous Chincoteague Pony Swim happens on Friday, when the remaining stallions and mares swim back across the channel. Mares with very young foals will remain on Chincoteague Island until later in the fall season. The Salt Water Cowboys take them back to Assateague in October when the entire herd gets a thorough veterinary examination.

In recent months, blueberries have been regularly hitting the news as the super food of the moment. Experts everywhere have been espousing their virtues as the research reports confirming their amazing properties have rolled in. However, those reports only served to confirm what health experts have known for years as a result of their ancestors. Blueberries have been used for food, medicine and home made beauty products since Columbus first discovered America in 1492 so there extraordinary health benefits are nothing new.

One area of research that is worth noting though concerns the blueberry and improved memory. US universities have been testing the blueberry to confirm that the fruit has a dramatic yet positive impact on mental health and fitness. However, it was the University of Barcelona that succeeded in proving that there is a correlation between blueberry consumption and an improved memory. Their findings are simply astonishing.

The experiment behind the blueberry for improved memory study was actually performed on rats. All rats were older and had experienced some form of metal degeneration. They were fed blueberries for two months and by the end of that period, they were moving much more quickly and had much improved coordination and balance. The blueberries had actually stimulated the growth of new brain cells to replace those that had been lost, and the fruit can have the same impact on us humans!

Blueberries contain compounds and substance called antioxidants, which are also known as anthocyanins. They have many great properties but can really help to improve any individual’s memory. The rats fed the blueberries were found to have those substances in their brains, whereas the rats that were not fed the blueberries didn’t. It effectively crosses the blood/brain barrier and settles in the centres of the brain that enable us to learn and remember details. Even if your brain is old and tired, blueberries can revitalize it and effectively reverse the aging process!

It is hoped that blueberries can be used for their properties in the future as a cure for mental degenerative conditions and illnesses such as dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease. Although it is not yet known what actually causes those illnesses, the age-defying blueberries may be developed into a substance that can treat it at its root. If it can improve memory and reverse the effects of age, why can’t it do the same for people that are going through more severe forms of the aging process? Only time will tell!

Who would have thought that the blueberry could enable an old dog to learn new tricks? They not only prevent free radicals within our bodies from attacking and breaking down cells, but they can also replace what has been lost with age. They can even improve the memory above and beyond what it was capable off before. Of course, this is the result of a cumulative effect that has to be built up over a period of time, but it appears that anything is possible with the blueberry. It is truly a super food!